Yeah apparently it was a thing? unless they’re talking about the cups for the smaller EMU headphones but I explicitly mentioned the X00 because I was ordering more Ebony cups at the time.
1 Like
How are the emu teaks compared to the dt 177x?
Any differences (sound/construction) between the Fostex TR-X00 ebony cups and the emu ebony’s?
One of my ebony cups on my TR-X00’s is starting to show some milky fading due to the subpar lacquer job on them. The cup is not as bad as the linked album below but you get the picture. AFAIK, the sound does not seem to be compromised. Right now, I’m looking to replace them with the emu ebony cups hoping that these are better constructed and last longer without affecting the sound.
WHAT DID THEY DO TO THAT CUP?!?! It looks more than just foggy, it looks like the edge has been chipped and worn down. It hurts my soul. 
Anyway, The sound should be fine as long as your cup is not cracked, as in the wood itself is cracked, not just the finish.
Other people here should be able to comment on the quality of the emu cups.
Yeah, my wood cup is definitely not cracked. From what I read, if the lacquer job is substandard, then moisture can get between the the wood and lacquer to produce a milky, hazy appearance. The photo below (not mine) is a better representation of what one of my cups looks like (still worse than mine though). If my TH-X00 is away from the sunlight, then you’d probably not notice it.
Do you happen to live in humid environment? I noticed that users with this issue lived in areas with higher than avg humidity.
I’ve had no issues with the EMU ebony cups so far but then again I baby all my gear. I do feel like the quality is a bit better than the stock Fostex cups.
1 Like
I know that this also occurs with the natural oils in the wood. When curing, sometimes the wood releases oils that can create a similar haze, but it’s usually in smaller patches.
Sorry to see that this happened to you.
1 Like
Heh, I don’t think Southern California climate can be considered tropical 
Also, I got mine secondhand locally from somebody else for a really good deal (no chips, no damage, modded with a 4-pin XLR termination). AFAIK, right now, it is just a matter of aesthetics.
I think I have more of an issue with the fitment of the stock pads than anything else (an Ori pad clone from China, as recommend by HF, is on its way).
1 Like
Are they the accessory house global ZMF clones? Be sure to try the dekoni attenuation rings or make your own before you pass judgment on those pads. Without the rings they will most likely sound much more neutral than most X00 fans will like.
Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I already own Dekoni’s attenuation rings and they’re ready to go when the new pads arrive.
As for the Ori clones, they are these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32957776585.html
Some member on HF complained about spending considerably more $$$ on Ori pads when these sounded substantially(?), if not, the same. I forgot the actual post, but it is in the TH-X00 thread over there.
I’m also thinking of ordering the Dekoni Elite Hybrids TH-900 from Drop to try out too.
If you get the TH-900 hybrids let us know how you like them.
don’t spend too much money on the pads.
If you want to do something useful then the Lawton mod would be useful because it eliminates the roughest part. Since you already have the deconi rings, I can only recommend the Ahg pads, they do a lot of things right, and more is really not needed I tried the Beyerdynamic pads was not good, cheap ones from China were just as bad, and the most expensive from Dekoni elite Hybrid was something. Where there is leather on the outside, perforated on the inside and fabric on the sides. And it was a waste of money.
Reach for the Emu cups if it is still possible. In my opinion, Emu has the driver under control best and offers real quality behind it. The Lawton cups are certainly a little better if the price is right.
on the contrary, I have not regretted the purchase of my Emu Rosewood very much, also with all the recommendations of the forum from Pad to Dekoni rings; I even prefer it to the D7200 because I somehow currently like it better.
Regarding the pads, it takes a little time for the ear to get used to it, if you compare them with the originals versus the new ones, and if you still have an Eq like Apo ect or a Schiit Loki, you can even compensate that a bit according to your wishes. That would be another recommendation from me. Then you will also like the Ahg Pads.
Apo is free in the case of a try, I would let it get there, even if the drop of the deconi pads is coming to an end.
When I tried the Ori pads it kinda sucked the life out of the headphones in my personal opinion. But would be interested in hearing your thoughts.
1 Like
I already have a Peace+APO setup. For my HD6XX, Oratory’s Harmon-Curve settings were pretty good but different, and metal571’s settings for the same cans were pretty awful. I tweaked Oratory’s settings for the Arya a bit, in which I tried to leave the bass untouched (removed the elevated 100Hz bass shelf), adjusted the upper mids at 1.8kHz about +3dB to compensate for the slight recession in that region (2dB less than Oratory), and left as much as the original air above 10kHz as possible (Oratory’s H-C settings reduces the air above 10kHz). It simply made the Arya sound a bit wonky, and I already liked the stock sound other than the slight upper mid recession (common to most, if not all, planars). But I digress.
As to the Dekoni Elite Hybrids, I tried it with XERO1’s TH-X00’s on an Asgard 3 and the CTH (both fed by a Mimby) during a local meet a few months back. AFAIK, his TH-X00’s, since sold to a member here, also had Dekoni’s attenuator rings and no other mods. Under relatively loud meet conditions, they sounded fine to my ears but I couldn’t draw any conclusions due to the loud room at the time.
Anyways, it is good to hear that the Emu wood cups are better constructed. I might need to take a serious look at them. Then again, I’m not really super into my TH-X00’s. They are fine, but they don’t make it in my regular rotation: Arya, HD800S, HE-6, LCD-2 rev. 2. So, I might be fine with just a pad change and slight EQ.
1 Like
uff so I think you’re doing things a little wrong.
So comparing magentostatic headphones with bio-cellulose is a long way off, the drivers are completely different.
It is clear to me that the Ayra sounds different and there is also a bit of a price difference.
With the Hd 600, I put up with it, it’s a matter of taste.
Now that the main weak point of the Fostex, old Denon series and Emu are not the driver’s insulation, that’s why Lawton tackled it and achieved the best results. And everyone who installed it reports only good afterwards, so I would suggest that to you Invest $ 50 to get the turmoil high, more bass control and better mids under control.
Level two would be a set of Lawton cups or just the Emu cups Ebony, Rosewood, possibly Purpel Heart.
And then it is up to you whether you do not use Lawton foam or not.
The pads would be the last thing I would adjust.
A converted Via blue epc 2 cable brings a little more finishing touches, then it comes with all the things loose to the Denon D7200, I don’t quite think it’s enough for the D9200, but then you have reached the maximum.
If you scroll further up you can see my post where I converted the D2000 with many recommendations here from the forum. The result is really amazing for me. As mentioned, he lets the mahogany play easily on the wall and also keeps up with the D7200. In comparison, it’s much more natural and not bloated in bass like the D7200. The middle is pretty much the same, but the highs are perfect, not too shrill or exaggerated. And the Song has more body. Try to get right down to it, the more The more money you spend on pads, the greater the disappointment, because the conditions are not there yet.
But leave it up to you.
1 Like
I think you misread what I wrote. My inclusion of the dynamic (HD6XX) and planar (Arya) headphones during my EQ discussion were just examples how familiar I was with messing around with EQ, particularly Peace+APO. I wasn’t comparing planars to biodynamics. Just that my experience with EQ’ing headphones has been a mixed bag, even when trying EQ profiles of well-known reviewers, hence the phrase “But I digress.”
As for Lawton Mods, I’ve seen mixed reactions to it here and elsewhere.
Lastly, my main issue with my TH-X00’s is how uncomfortable and odd-fitting the stock pads are to my ears. I can live with the aesthetic aberration to one of my wood cups.
WTF? Your cup is also pulling away from the metal housing!!! You can see into the enclosure. You’ve got major problems there. I have no issue with mine what so ever, but I treat them like gold.
The picture are not of their own X00s. They are just examples of what has happened (to a much lesser degree) to their headphones.
It does hurt to see those pictures though.
2 Likes
So it seems that the Ori pads I got a while ago for my X00s are in fact NOT lambskin. I just got a pair of Ori hybrid (lambskin and suede) and the lambskin parts are much glossy-er than my first Ori pads. This along with the glossy-ness of all my other lambskin pads leads me to the cinclusion that the pads I have been using are protein leather Ori pads (I ordered lambskin). Since I ordered them over a year ago and they have been great I’m not mad, but I thought I would let you all know that all if my previous impressions if the Ori pads have been if the protein leather.
Hybrid left, protein right
The hybrids are great so far. The don’t seem to change the sound much if any and are SO much more comfortable. I’ll have some more detailed impressions once I actually do some proper comparisons with the protein Ori pads (my previous favorite) some time in the next few days.
3 Likes
For my TH-X00 Ebony (pictured below), I swapped out the stock pads for AHG’s TH909 sheepskin pads that featured a larger opening. The stock pads annoyingly never fit my ears all that well. After the swap, I noticed a drop in the amount bass amount and a larger soundstage, and the cans sounded more neutral overall. The AHG’s do not come with attenuation materials found in the stock pads, the latter of which feels like paper mache. Adding Dekoni’s plastic attenuation rings (some of its edges had to be cut to fit inside the pads) brought the bass and the soundstage back to stock levels. However, there is a little bit of bass bleed into the mids now. It has been weeks since I’ve listened to these cans, so I forgot whether the stock pads had the same effect. Getting the mounting rings into the new pads wasn’t too difficult, but I don’t feel like taking them out again for doing a comparison with the stock pads. Anyways, I can live with this since these are my fun cans rather than my daily driver. In sum, the AHG pads are really comfortable (the chief reason I bought these), they establish a nice seal, and retain the stock sound as far as I can tell.
Also pictured below is how my ebony cups look in direct light. As you can see, the right cup (1st picture) shows the grain of the ebony. On the other hand, the lacquer of the left cup (2nd picture) has gone bad, so a milky halo remains. Away from sunlight, it would be difficult to see the difference. The issue is purely aesthetic, as I cannot tell any differences in the sound between two cups. Still, QC is disappointing, which makes me doubt that the lacquer-work was done in Japan. Knowing Drop, they probably outsourced the lacquer-work to China for Fostex. Moving forward, I might spring for replacement ebony cups from E-mu. However, before that, I’m going to look into Lawton’s tune-up kits, most likely the first level kit.
3 Likes